The FBI booted him for displaying a Pride flag. Now he’s suing the administration.

Former FBI employee David Maltinsky filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against FBI Director Kash Patel, Attorney General Pamela Bondi, the FBI, and the Department of Justice, alleging that he was wrongfully and unconstitutionally terminated in October for displaying a Progress Pride flag at his work desk. Maltinsky says the firing violated his rights to free speech and equal protection under the law; he wants the court to restore his job with the FBI.

Maltinsky’s 18-page complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleged that the aforementioned plaintiffs dismissed him three weeks before he was set to graduate from the FBI academy for displaying the flag at his workstation.

The flag, which had been given to him to recognize his support of the FBI’s diversity initiatives, was approved for display by his supervisors and was similar to a larger Progress Pride flag flown by the FBI in front of the Wilshire Federal Building in Los Angeles earlier in the year.

Maltinsky’s lawsuit alleges that a co-worker shared a concern about the flag with Maltinsky’s direct supervisor. Maltinsky says the Chief Division Counsel for the FBI’s Los Angeles field office assured Maltinsky that the display of the flag didn’t violate any policy, rule, or regulation.

Nevertheless, on October 1, Patel wrote a letter to Maltinsky that said, “I have determined that you…

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